Some EU-funded research projects have focused on social exclusion (its spatial patterns, dynamics causing it) and integration issues, examined in various contexts and especially related to immigrants and ethnic minorities:

Main debates and conceptions of inclusion and integration of migrants in the 20th century in Europe:

It is important to understand that changes in political and social contexts → changes in attitudes towards newcomers.

1945-80s

Early 90s

Late 90s

– Political commitment to democracy
– Impulse to think inclusively
– Concentration on cultural diversity for the integration of migrantsBUT
– Cultural difference is not equally understood across Europe

– The leading principle on integration is citizenship– Focus on the active citizenship of ethnic minorities

– ‘New realism’: ethnic minorities are expected to learn the language and adopt norms and values of the society.
– Integration understood as a question of identity.

The concept of diversity describes those visible or invisible aspects that make people differ from each other. Elements of diversity can be age, gender, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability, etc.